MY BIOGRAPHY

© 2011 Siow Lee Chin

She knows how to seduce

listeners, drawing them into

her world with just a few

notes... This is artistry of the

highest level.

- Fanfare Magazine

Praised by The Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Here was a lark that ascended with utmost grace and sang

in the loveliest of voices”, and The Strad as “a charismatic artist who infuses meaning into every

note and whose playing is full of elegance and finesse”, Lee-Chin has performed to critical acclaim

in over 20 countries on five continents, from Carnegie Hall to Japan’s Osaka Symphony Hall.

Gold medal winner of the 1994 Henryk Szeryng

International Violin Competition and the Louise D.

McMahon International Music Competition for Strings,

Lee-Chin was recently honored by the South Carolina Arts

Commission (supported by the National Endowment for the

Arts) with the 2012 Fellowship in Music Performance in

recognition of exceptional artistic excellence. She has

enjoyed collaborations with renowned orchestras and

conductors, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

and Daniele Gatti, Houston Symphony and Andreas Delfs,

Dallas Symphony and the late Eduardo Mata, Malaysian

Philharmonic Orchestra and Kees Bakels, Singapore

Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shui. Active in charitable

work, Lee-Chin has performed as soloist in a gala concert,

which included Montserrat Caballé, Andrea Bocelli and Sir

Simon Rattle, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in

London to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Upcoming engagements include an Asia Tour

2010-2011 in prominent venues in China's key cities from Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan to

Chongqing, as well as concerts with the Singapore Symphony and Wuhan Philharmonic.

Lee-Chin’s latest CD Songs My Father Taught Me topped HMV’s classical music charts and was

picked for Fanfare Magazine’s 2009 Want List: "This is artistry of the highest level". International

accolades have praised Lee-Chin’s "ability to free the voice of her instrument, and send its soul out

to intoxicate the listener" (Classic FM, UK) and lauded her as a “distinguished cultural asset of

international stature (American Record Guide).

Lee-Chin has been a guest at the world’s most prestigious concert venues, including Alice Tully Hall

in Lincoln Center, Vienna KonzertHaus, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall,

Canada, Hong Kong City Hall, Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall, Beijing’s Poly Theatre and the

Royal Albert Hall in London. Highlights of her solo appearances at international music festivals

include the Banff Music Festival, Lucerne International Music Festival, Ludwigsburger International

Music Festival (Germany), Music Fest Perugia (Italy), Cervantino Festival (Mexico), International

Contemporary Music Festival “Contrasts” (Ukraine), VIRTUOSI Festival, Recife (Brazil), and the

Singapore Arts Festival. Her live performances have been broadcast on CBS Sunday Morning,

National Public Radio, Voice of America, Singapore’s MediaCorp TV and China Central TV (CCTV).

A proud Singaporean, Lee-Chin has retained close ties with home while successfully establishing an

illustrious international career as a soloist and educator. In 1994, she was conferred the Singapore

Youth Award for Excellence in the Arts by the Prime Minister, and was honored with the National

Arts Council’s Young Artist Award in 1996. In the fall of 2008, she was on sabbatical as a visiting

artist at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore.

Passionate and committed to teaching, Lee Chin has served as

visiting professor at the Oberlin Conservatory, given

masterclasses and outreach programs all over the world,

including the National University of Singapore, Beijing’s Central

Conservatory of Music, Lisbon Academy of Music, Chicago

Institute of Music, University of Maryland, Ohio University and

Spoleto Study Abroad (Italy), among many others. Currently,

Lee Chin is the Director of Strings and Professor of Violin at the

College of Charleston, South Carolina and co-founder and

artistic co-director of the Charleston Music Fest. Her students have won top prizes at the Music

Teachers National Association competitions and soloed with the Charleston Symphony.

Lee Chin began her violin studies under her father, Siow Hee-Shun. An alumna of the Curtis

Institute of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, her

teachers included Roland and Almita Vamos, Felix Galimir, Jascha Brodsky and Aaron Rosand.

Lee-Chin with the Royal Philharmonic

Orchestra and Daniele Gatti